Texas probing Dallas Fire-Rescue over alleged improper patient care, including in Tony Timpa death

The State Department of Health is investigating Dallas Fire-Rescue over complaints of inadequate medical care given to patients that have been around since at least 2016.

In separate examinations by the Texas Department of Health, four fire fighters have had their paramedic licenses suspended since April, including two employees who were on the scene in Dallas during the 2016 murder of Tony Timpa.

All four paramedics are currently still working for Dallas Fire Rescue and, according to the fire department, are allowed to perform their duties. Should other violations be found, they could face harsher penalties.

The state health department confirmed an active investigation that the fire department was involved in to The Dallas Morning News but declined to provide details until the case is closed. A spokesman said active EMS complaints and information received during the investigation are confidential under state law.

Fire Rescue Lt. Robert Borse said in an email to the mayor, councilors and senior city and fire officers of Dallas Monday evening that the Department of Health’s consumer protection department is “conducting multiple investigations into either the DFR as a whole or individual employees.” In the e-mail, he also mentioned the four employees who received their licenses as paramedics or paramedics on parole – the so-called “suspension status on probation”. The state found that they were not following proper procedures in caring for patients.

Borse did not name the four employees. He wrote that elected officials and others were notified after the fire department received inquiries from The News on Monday about the ongoing state investigation and the punished employees.

Dallas Fire Department chief Dominique Artis told The News on Tuesday that the state investigation includes a review of multiple complaints with incidents dating back to at least 2016 making our EMS system better. “

Borse said in his email that the fire department is denying complaints related to the ongoing state investigation.

Medic on probation

Two paramedics and two paramedics have been suspended following a government investigation into three separate incidents, including Timpa’s death.

According to state documents, the health department initially proposed revoking the paramedic and EMT certifications of all four employees in Dallas. But they all negotiated deals that allowed them to keep their licenses and instead get suspended.

Two paramedics, Curtis Burnley and James Flores, were each given two years probation – Burnley in June and Flores in April – in connection with Timpa’s death in northwest Dallas after the 32-year-old called 911 for help on August 10, 2016 He reported suffering from schizophrenia and depression and not taking his prescription medication.

Timpa died after being handcuffed, zipped up, and nailed to the floor with an officer’s knee behind her back for 14 minutes while she called for someone to help. Body camera footage from The News shows first responders waited at least four minutes after Timpa stopped responding to begin resuscitation. The video also shows one of the paramedics injecting something in his arm while lying face down.

The state found that Burnley and Flores did not intervene even when it first appeared that Timpa passed out, according to a health department notice of a violation. Flores was also found to be administering a sedative to Timpa, which was used for minor procedures – Versed – when Timpa was held while Burnley watched, and none of them reported it to supervisors immediately. Both of them falsified Timpa’s patient care report, state documents said.

“You engaged in behavior that resulted in physical and emotional abuse / harm to a patient when you responded to a phone call in which a patient was handcuffed to both hands and legs by a police officer,” the state said Documents in the Burnley and Flores cases. “In particular, as the highest medical authority at the location of the call, you failed to intervene on behalf of the patient according to the protocol of your medical director.”

It was also found that in a separate incident in January 2020, Burnley “engaged in behavior that is hazardous to the health and safety of the assessment and treatment of a patient.”

In a separate investigation, the state put the licenses of the EMTs Landon Melzer and Paul Uresti under a one-year probation period in April because of an incident in February 2020.

The state found that they did not properly assess and treat a 16-year-old patient who appeared to be having a diabetic and mental emergency. The state also found that they did not take the teenager to the correct medical facility, state documents say. The state also noted that Melzer and Uresti did not properly document the teen’s condition, symptoms, and other important information in their patient reports, and neither insisted that the other treat the teen properly.

The health department’s order or violation makes it unclear what happened to the teenager.

Flores has been working for the city since September 2006; Burnley since October 2008; Uresti since March 2013; and Melzer since November 2015, have set city records.

Messages left by The News at the numbers listed for Burnley, Melzer and Uresti were not returned immediately late Tuesday. A man who answered the phone at a number listed for Flores and identified himself as “James” hung up.

State investigation

Borse said in his email that the ongoing state investigation contains “additional allegations” but he did not specify what those were. He said prosecutors are seeking advice from an outside lawyer to represent the fire department.

“DFR generally does not comment or disclose specific details about investigations in which individual employees are involved,” wrote Borse.

He noted in the email that the fire department had first received a notification of a state violation related to Timpa’s death in August 2016 in May 2020, along with a proposed fine, but never mentioned what happened to the potential fine.

The city first received an injury notification in connection with the second case in October 2020, Borse said.

The fire chief declined to speak about specific cases related to the current state investigation and said the city is cooperating.

“In a system as large as us, there will be times when you will be investigated and the state will need to investigate all complaints filed to see if they are legitimate. It happens regularly, ”Artis told The News. “We try to make sure we are preparing, working with our partners in the country … to make sure we understand and look at the results objectively and can make any necessary changes.”

State records show that the Dallas Fire-Rescue was last fined by the state health department in 2002.

Chris Van Deusen, a department spokesman, said the state no longer had a record of the reasons for the sentences nearly 20 years ago.

Research Associate Naomi Kaskela contributed to this report.

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